Meet some local Frenglish experts

Peggy Curran, The Gazette11.20.2012

Frenglish: Montreal's word of mouth
/ James Braithwaite

Seen here in July, 2002, when his book was first published, Victor Trahan’s style guide grew from a 40-page pamphlet to a clear, entertaining 290-page manual that covered everything from when translators should use hyphens and capitals to assorted “language crimes and misdemeanours”.Phil Carpenter
/ Gazette file photo

Maybe Quebec anglos just think we’re distinct. A funny thing happened when Shana Poplack decided to count the number of French words native English...

MONTREAL — Fabio Girolami and his sister Laura have compiled a glossary of fractured Frenglish words and phrases. Things like “amend” instead of fine, “arterial tension” instead of blood pressure, going to the “commerce” instead of the store.

For years, Chris Hyde kept a running list of only-in-Quebec expressions on a sheet of paper under the blotter of his desk.

Victor Trahan spent six years and $3,000 of his own money compiling an unofficial City of Montreal Style Guide to help fellow translators and public servants navigate the garbled waters of dossiers, manifestations and collectivities.

Meet a few of Montreal’s Frenglish word hoarders.

People with a passion for the languages of Montreal — French, English and that which lies between — as they are spoken by politicians, written and scrawled on tenement walls, for better and for worse.

“I retired two years ago, but I’m still on the lookout for all the sinners,” said Trahan, 70. “Anglos absorb French words by osmosis. They assimilate them and convert them, sometimes in annoying ways. On the other hand, you will meet French-speaking Montrealers who can’t speak a word of English — yet, in fact, they use English words all the time.”

Published 10 years ago, Trahan’s style guide grew from a 40-page pamphlet to a clear, entertaining 290-page manual that covered everything from when translators should use hyphens and capitals to assorted “language crimes and misdemeanours” — funny stories and malapropisms from the likes of hockey tough guy Tie Domi (“I’m not going to battle back with verbal words”) and former B.C. premier Bill Bennett (“This is a party that speaks its mind straight from the shoulder”).

Trahan devoted just one chapter to gallicisms and Frenglish, citing such French-to-English borrowings as “assigning” witnesses when you mean to subpoena them, “commanding” a meal when you mean to order one and “dressing” dogs when you really want to train them.

Since the guide was published, Trahan has come up with oodles of examples of linguistic twists of speech — years of scholarity (schooling); the responsible person (the person in charge); consuming drugs (taking drugs); here are my co-ordinates (this is how to reach me); I got my permanence (I have tenure.)

Or this one, which appeals to Trahan’s sense of humour: “I was deceived by what she exposed at the reunion. She had pretended it would be great.”

As children, Fabio and Laura Girolami spoke Italian before they learned French or English. “But my father spoke seven languages. He was always on our case about the importance of using the right word,” Fabio Girolami said.

A few years ago, he and his sister, both engineers, began jotting down words and expressions that sound imported, co-opted or just plain wrong. “We don’t assign values to them, it’s just a crazy thing we do.”

Their Frenglish glossary includes such Montrealisms as saying guardian when you mean lifeguard, incident instead of accident and “make your work” instead of do your job.

“On the Place des Arts website, it says ‘indicate how many places you want’ instead of saying how many tickets or seats you need,” he said. “Do they not have a translator? Or did they hire a real Montrealer who doesn’t know that’s wrong?”

“I’ll never forget when (then premier) Robert Bourassa used ‘rentabilize’ as an English word,” said Hyde, who is especially interested in French words that francophones, particularly politicians or other officials, use when they speak English — and which then get drawn into the anglo vocabulary. His list of bureaucratspeak includes president instead of chair, engagement instead of commitment, deputy instead of MP or MNA and immobilisations instead of fixed assets.

Just this week, Hyde heard Quebec’s finance minister on CJAD, where he was asked about specific expense cuts and replied that “ventilation” of expenses will come later. “I don’t think he was inferring that his plans are full of holes, but was unable to put his point in English and chose a new Frenglish term to get him past it,” Hyde said.

“This Frenglish is a way of coping with vocabulary gaps or challenges, where the francophone falls back on a French expression, in the hope that if spoken in an English cadence it will be understood as English. English speakers make similar errors when their French vocabulary deserts them, but (these examples) are so pervasive that they have in fact become enrooted — “enracinated?” — in officialdom’s Frenglish.”

As someone who spent his career taking care of words and their meanings in French and English, Trahan believes it is important to draw the line on turns of phrase and direct word transfers that are just plain wrong.

For instance, Trahan has heard people say they had to “depart of the cat” when they meant to say they put their cat to sleep. Oh, and by the way, the appropriate translation of “chien méchant” is “Beware of Dog,” not the more literal “mean dog,” even if that actually happens to be true.

Still, Trahan is a great believer in letting languages breathe and take on new expressions, particularly in a city like Montreal with so many ethnic communities and language groups.

“The mix-up is part of the Montreal landscape,” said Trahan. “Language is always evolving. Language is not static, and that’s a good thing.”